RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: Edelman has agreed to a three-month, $225,000 contract to provide communications support for Saudi Arabia’s Neom megacity development.
The agency will provide international communications support, strategic counsel, media relations and stakeholder identification and engagement for three months ending in February 2021, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing.
The agreement is being negotiated, but fees will not exceed $75,000 a month, according to a set of guidelines attached to the filing that was emailed to Neom from Jere Sullivan, Edelman’s vice chairman of global public affairs for trade and technology. Neither Sullivan nor a NEOM representative listed on the filling immediately commented on the work.
An Edelman spokesperson declined to comment on the agency's work for Neom or if it would work with BCW, which began working for the megacity development via its Middle Eastern operation, Asda’a BCW, in July.
WPP agency BCW also did not immediately comment on its relationship with Neom.
Neom also hired Ruder Finn this year via a seven-figure deal focused on CSR initiatives.
Revealed in 2017, Neom is a part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's plans to modernize the Saudi economy and make it less dependent on oil. It is a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund created by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
